Hair and Makeup Secrets Of The Movie Nine

Hair and makeup designer Peter King won an Oscar for the mud and blood he splashed on the Lord of the Rings' actors, but for Nine, he used more glamorous tools.

Hair: "We went through 50 to 60 large cans of hairspray during filming. All of the dancers were in heated rollers everyday. The director, Rob Marshall, told me from the start, 'The whole film is about the hair. When you see the choreography you'll understand.' The head movements in these dance numbers were violent."

Eyes: "We used at least 250 sets of false eyelashes. And for a Judi Dench dance number, we had all of the showgirls wearing the tiniest red and silver Swarovski crystals as eyeliner. There were thousands of them and they each had to be put on one at a time."

Lips: "For the dance numbers, we could do big, iconic looks that would have been distracting in other scenes. For Kate Hudson's big moment, we went with a very '60s look for the backup dancers. We used Max Factor Pan-Stik on the lips, completely blanking them out. They had no lips. They also had no blush to contour their cheeks. The dancers were horrified. [Laughs] 'I have no shape to my face!'"

Be sure to check out the November issue of Allure—on newsstands today!—where King breaks down how he created the looks for some the film's leading ladies: Kate Hudson (above), Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, and Fergie.